Officials decline to meet with group

Apr. 1, 2013

Protesters of the Detroit emergency manager bow in prayer Monday on the 11th floor of the Coleman A. Young Municipal Center in Detroit. About 75 people wanted to speak with Mayor Dave Bing and emergency manager Kevyn Orr, but the officials declined to meet. / Mandi Wright/Detroit Free Press

Written by

Detroit Free Press Staff Writer

A labor activist filed a lawsuit to halt City Council meetings while the emergency manager Kevyn Orr, above, is in place. / March 14 photo by JARRAD HENDERSON/DFP

More

ADVERTISEMENT

Opponents of Michigan's emergency manager law and the state takeover of Detroit kept up their protests on Monday, with about 75 people demanding to speak with Mayor Dave Bing and emergency manager Kevyn Orr.

The officials declined to meet with the group, which gathered outside Bing's office on the 11th floor of the Coleman A. Young Municipal Center around noon and stayed about an hour.

Bing "has sold out the city of Detroit," said the Rev. Charles Williams II, president of the National Action Network's Michigan chapter. "We will continue to be here, we will continue to make our visitations to the mayor's office until the City of Detroit is returned back to the citizens of Detroit. This is our Detroit."

Protesters pledged regular, unannounced demonstrations across the city to try to stop actions they view as undemocratic and a violation of the voting rights of residents of the majority-black city.

The protests were peaceful, with no arrests reported. Last week, protesters shut down public access to city hall for about two hours after opponents filed a federal lawsuit against the state over its emergency manager law, Public Act 436.

Labor activist Robert Davis filed a lawsuit Monday in Wayne County Circuit Court, asking a judge to stop the City Council from meeting. Davis said an emergency manager appointment removes authority from the council to meet, deliberate or spend city funds.

(Page 2 of 2)

"The council has made this bed, and now they must lie in it," Davis said. "The City Council chose to cut a deal with the governor in exchange for them not to appeal to the circuit court. The deal that they cut allowed them to keep their salaries."

Orr spokesman Bill Nowling said Orr's office hadn't reviewed Davis' lawsuit but expected the council to meet unless a judge rules otherwise. Nowling said PA 436 "assumes a functioning government is in place, and the City Council is part of a functioning government."

Of Davis' accusation about the council's alleged deal, Nowling said: "It's a free country and people can say what they want, but that doesn't make it true."

Council President Charles Pugh declined to comment except to say the council will continue to meet unless a judge says not to, a spokeswoman said.

In his second official act on the job, Orr on Monday signed an order accepting $8 million in donations from some of the city's top corporations and community groups, including the Detroit Three automakers and Penske Corp. The money will be used to lease and maintain 23 new ambulances and 100 police cruisers to replace the city's aging fleet that takes a large part of the blame for slow emergency responses.

Bing had been working with corporate and civic leaders for months on the donations, which were announced March 25, the same day Orr took office.